Joel Santo DomingoPolywell MiniBox P5500CPolywell's MiniBox P5500C is a decent gaming rig with the power to play 3D games on a semi-portable PC system. It's got copious storage and quad core power, so it could work as a video workstation as well.

Compact form factor. Long 5-year service warranty. Very good 3D scores. CrossFire and SLI (2-card) compatible motherboard. Copious amounts of hard drive space.

Cons

Some fan noise. Larger than other small form factor gaming rigs.

Bottom Line

Polywell's MiniBox P5500C is a decent gaming rig with the power to play 3D games on a semi-portable PC system. It's got copious storage and quad core power, so it could work as a video workstation as well.

The Polywell MiniBox P5500C ($1,850 direct, $2,099 with a 23-inch widescreen monitor) isn't as sleek as the Falcon Northwest FragBox or AVADirect GT3 gaming systems, but what it does have is a lot of internal space for components, while keeping the spirit of a small form factor gaming rig intact. The MiniBox P5500C comes with Intel Core i7-870 power and a single ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card, so it has the power to smack your opponents on the game grid. A Blu-ray player and over 3TB of drive space make it a video workstation worth considering if you need to equip a news or a film-support van.

Similar Products

Design
The MiniBox sits in a reasonably compact case (9.5 by 11.5 by 14 inches, HWD), which is a lot smaller than mid-tower chassis, but it's still a lot bigger than the 15.5- by 4.5- by 12.5-inch (HWD) chassis of the AVADirect GT3. It won't win any beauty contests, but it does have a windowed side panel showing off the ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card (Card makers put ATI's mascot Ruby on the cards for that reason). There's a handle on the front so it's easier to move, though the Falcon NW Fragbox is more convenient since the handle is on the top. The build quality is decent though unremarkable, and the system's fan noise is present while the system is in operation (not quite noise-cancelling headset levels, but you will hear it in a quiet room).

Features
The MiniBox has 4GB of DDR3 memory, 3.5TB of drive space spread over 3 drives (one is removable), a Blu-ray player (with DVD burner) and a plethora of input/output ports, including ten USB 2.0 ports, two FireWire, HDMI, eSATA, and a DisplayPort. Like other small system builders, Polywell keeps the included software load light: The system came with Windows 7 Ultimate, and all the drivers for the Blu-ray drive and other components. The system did come with 90-day subscription to Notron Anti-Virus.

The system had some buzzing when we turned it on, likely a consequence of rough shipping, but once it was on and running awhile it was fairly quiet. There is some fan noise from the case fans and the Radeon graphics card, but these only made their presence known when the system was working hard on our benchmark tests. If you're really obsessive about noise, then I'd recommend using a pair of noise-cancelling headphones during gaming sessions. Good headphones are standard for gaming sessions anyway.

Performance
The MiniBox P5500C's Intel Core i7-870 processor and ATI Radeon HD 4890 graphics card helped it achieve top-notch gaming performance, compared with other gaming systems with Core i7 and a single graphics card. It scored class-leading, playable frame rates on three of our four gaming tests: Crysis at 1,280 by 1,024 (95 frames per second), World in Conflict at 1,280 by 1,024 (124 fps) and 1,920 by 1,200 (46 fps). The P5500C's Crysis score at 19 by 12 is unplayable at 20 fps, but you'd need multiple "highest-end" graphics cards like three Radeon 5870 cards to get playable frame rates for that test. Compare these scores to those of our current Editors' Choice the Velocity Micro Edge Z30: Crysis 84fps and 18fps, WiC 103 fps and 44 fps. This is one fast gaming rig.

Likewise, the P5500C is fast at our multimedia tests: 28 seconds at our Windows Media Encoder test is best in class, while 1:18 at our PhotoShop CS4 test is no slouch (the Z30 is fastest at 1:09). The combination of a speedy Core i7 processor, speedy DDR3 RAM, and lots of hard drive space means that the P5500C would serve a multimedia maven as well as a hardcore gamer.

Compared with the competition, the P5500C is good, if a little expensive. If you delete options like the Blu-ray drive, Windows 7 Ultimate in favor of Win 7 Home Premium, and one or two of the hard drives, then you'd come closer to the prices of competition like the AVADirect GT3 ($1,367), Velocity Micro Z30 ($1,299) and Gateway FX6801-03 ($1,279). As is, you can get the same gaming and multimedia performance for a lot less money by going with the competition. The Polywell does have the dual-graphics upgrade space that the GT3 lacks. Ultimately, the Velocity Micro Edge Z30's bang for the buck wins out, and that model retains the Editors' Choice for mid-priced gaming systems. I'd recommend the P5500C more for the semi-nomadic multimedia maven, one that needs blazing performance and a lot of drive space in a semi-portable package.

Polywell MiniBox P5500C

excellent

Bottom Line: Polywell's MiniBox P5500C is a decent gaming rig with the power to play 3D games on a semi-portable PC system. It's got copious storage and quad core power, so it could work as a video workstation as well.

Read More

About the Author

Joel Santo Domingo joined PC Magazine in 2000, after 7 years of IT work for companies large and small. His background includes managing mobile, desktop and network infrastructure on both the Macintosh and Windows platforms. Joel is proof that you can escape the retail grind: he wore a yellow polo shirt early in his tech career. Along the way Joel e... See Full Bio

Polywell MiniBox P5500C

Polywell MiniBox P5500C

Get Our Best Stories!

This newsletter may contain advertising, deals, or affiliate links. Subscribing to a newsletter indicates your consent to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from the newsletters at any time.